The McCaskill miasma

While I was writing about Missouri Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill’s low opinion of the intelligence of Missouri voters this morning, McCaskill was taking advantage of the partisan credulity of her hosts at MSNBC’s Morning Joe. McCaskill explained her decision to skip the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte that will renominate President Obama to the top of the Democratic ticket.

McCaskill asserted that it’s standard practice for her to stay in state when she’s running in a contested race. Hmmm. When did you last skip a national convention, Senator McCaskill? McCaskill declared the issue “just stupid.” As I argued this morning, there is a reason she has “stupid” on her mind, and being in the vicinity of Mika Brzezinski must have brought it to the surface.

This is what McCaskill has in store for Missouri voters: “You’ve got to say to people at home, which is more important? Going to a place with a bunch of party honchos and having cocktail parties or being at home talking to them? So this has never been a hard call for me. Everybody is trying to make this a big deal and narrative.”

Even the local St. Louis press observes that Joe Scarborough, MSNBC’s token conservative, played softball through the interview, at one point declaring McCaskill’s decision to skip Charlotte “a smart call.” Joe never did get around to asking when McCaskill last skipped a Democratic national convention.